Zach StormAstronomical Dusk

AA|LA is pleased to present Astronomical Dusk, an exhibition of new works by Zach Storm, existing at the nexus of light, landscape, and time.

Astronomical dusk refers to the last instant of illumination in a day, which occurs when the center of the sun is eighteen degrees below the horizon. In these works, Storm seeks to capture the way landscape feels at this particular moment—the shadows, textures, and colors the eyes perceive just before light turns to dark. In seeking to grasp this specific yet elusive juncture, these works reflect the impossibility of representation, revealing—and reveling in—the limitations of painting as an art form.

Naturalistic influences extend to Storm’s alchemy of materials. Built to endure the passage of time and resist fluctuations in temperature, reflective metallic leafing serves as the foundation for thin layers of hand-ground pigments and wax or oil based paints. Just as our perception of a mountain range evolves with the rising and setting of the sun, there is an intimate interaction between material and light within the paintings themselves.

The works in Astronomical Dusk are composed to physically stand the test of time while evoking an instant that is gone as soon as it has begun. In dramatizing this dichotomy between perpetuity and evanescence, landscape is interpreted through its relationship to time. In Storm’s hands a ubiquitous and daily phenomenon is transformed into something novel and unbounded.

Zach Storm was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He received his BFA from the Corcoran College of Art+Design in Washington, DC in 2005 and earned his master’s degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012. Coming from a family of west coast engineers and car enthusiasts, Storm's work is heavily influenced by surface detail, objects of desire, and spatial illusion. Storm's artwork has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Astronomical Dusk is his first exhibition with AA|LA.